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SLAM! Sports

Jun 1, 2007

, Last Updated: 3:43 PM ET

The mysterious blond who accompanied Alex Rodriguez to a Toronto strip club earlier this week is actually a long-time Las Vegas stripper.

A story in Friday’s New York Post identified the mystery woman as Joslyn Noel Morse, 30, who works as an exotic dancer at Scores Las Vegas and has been repeatedly spied with the Yankees' slugger in Tampa, Miami and Dallas.

The woman’s anonymity changed this week, after the Post published photos of her night out on the town in Toronto with Rodriguez, which ended with the pair checking into a posh hotel around midnight last Sunday.

The Post article described Morse as a “corn-fed Catholic-school girl from Iowa who quickly took up the stripping trade after high school.” Morse also posed topless in the October 2001 edition of the Playboy magazine “Casting Calls.”

Rodriguez, who has a 2-year-old daughter with wife Cynthia, has refused to comment about his relationship with Morse.

A report in Friday’s New York Daily News said Rodriguez’s wife had kicked him out of their Manhattan apartment after learning of his latest rendezvous with Morse. However the couple was photographed arm-in-arm as the Yankee third baseman autographed baseballs in Boston, where the Yankees begin a weekend series against the Red Sox tonight.

Rodriguez, who signed a $250-million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers in 2000, reportedly had his wife sign a prenuptial agreement when they were married in 2002.

Rodriguez, in the seventh year of his deal, will earn $27 million this season, according to Sports Illustrated. He also has a $1 million endorsement contract with Nike and a Mercedes-Benz dealership in League City, Tex.

Even with a prenup, his wife could petition for sizable child support for their daughter, lawyers said.

The slugger has been a lightning rod for criticism since being dealt to the Yankees just prior to the start of the 2004 baseball season.

The day the story of his late-night antics broke, A-Rod became the centre of a baseball ethics debate, after he allegedly yelled "Mine" on an infield fly as he rounded the bases in the ninth inning against the Blue Jays, prompting rookie infielder Howie Clark, who thought his teammate was calling him off, to step away and let the ball drop fair. The Yankees eventually won 10-5, prompting Jays' manager John Gibbons to refer to Rodriguez's questionable tactic as "bush league."

In 2001 his comments in Esquire magazine on teammate Derek Jeter sparked a controversy, when Rodriguez said: "He's never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. He hits second -- that's totally different than third or fourth in a lineup. You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie (Williams) and (Paul) O'Neill. You never say, 'Don't let Derek beat us.' He's never your concern."

Last July, prior to the start of a series against Toronto, The Post ran photos of Rodriguez sun tanning topless in Central Park, hours before a game.

Towards the end of last season it had become apparent that the relationship between Rodriguez and Jeter had deteriorated. That was confirmed this spring, when A-Rod showed up to camp and promptly told reporters: "You don't ask me about Derek anymore, and I promise I'll stop lying to all you guys."

Rodriguez’s late-night romp came after the Yankees were swept by the Angels last weekend and during a span where the once-powerful club has lost 13 of its last 19 games.

At 22-29, the Yankees are tied for last in the American League East and facing a key weekend series with rival Boston, whom they trail by 131/2 games.

Despite all the controversy, Rodriguez is leading the majors with 19 home runs and is on pace for career highs in both homers and RBIs. Rodriguez is currently fifth among active major leaguers with 483 career homers.